Intel Corporation (NDAQ: INTC) had a lawsuit filed against it last week alleging patent infringement in the production of the Core 2 Duo microprocessor. The suit was brought by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, commonly called WARF, which is the private, non-profit organization that coordinates the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patents.

The complaint says that the Core 2 Duo architecture infringes on WARF’s U.S. Patent "Table Based Data Speculation Circuit for Parallel Processing Computer." The patent was based on work done in 1998 by the University’s current head of computer sciences Professor Gurindar Sohir.

WARF’s head legal counsel, Michael Falk, says “The technology of the UW-Madison researchers has been widely recognized in the field of computer architecture as a pioneering invention…significantly enhances opportunities for instruction level parallelism in modern processors, thereby increasing their execution speed.” Intel's Core 2 Duo processor allegedly take advantage of these improvements which allows them to increase performance by 40% while decreasing power consumption.

Falk also claims that Intel was repeatedly contacted as far back as 2001 regarding the opportunity to license the technology but failed to do so. Intel has yet to formally respond to the lawsuit, with a spokesperson for the company only saying that "We dispute their claims and we certainly intend to conduct a vigorous defense.”

Intel is no stranger to such patent infringement suits. In fact, this last October the company settled similar dispute with Transmeta Corp. (NASDAQ: TMTA) over processor technologies in the Core and Pentium lines.

Intel ultimately agreed to pay $250 million to the company. WARF is seeking unspecified damages plus associated costs of the suit. Though Intel certainly seems to plan on putting up a fight, WARF is no amateur when it comes to defending its patents. The organization has obtained over 1,820 patents since its inception and manages more 1,500 licensing agreements worldwide. If history is any guide, it seems likely Intel will eventually pay-up, the only question is, for how much?

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Reddy Ice Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: FRZ) appears to be in great shape after its planned merger with GSO Capital Partners fell through thanks to troubles in the credit market. The packaged ice provider is now set to receive nearly $25 million in breakup fees from the hedge fund while continuing to explore strategic alternatives. This turn of events is music to the ears of shareholders - many of whom saw the acquisition price as grossly inadequate. Shareholders are now hoping that the company will find another potential suitor or other ways to unlock value in the company’s stock. So, what does all of this mean for investors?

The smart money is picking up more and more shares. Shamrock Activist Value Fund was one of the original investors to push for a sale, but failed to be impressed by GSO Caiptal Partner’s buyout price. Now that the bid has fallen through, the firm recently increased its stake to roughly 2.6 million shares, representing a 12.1 percent stake in the company, from 1.8 million shares, or an 8.3 percent stake in the company. Already, this kind of large buying has propelled shares beyond the original buyout price and into new territory ahead of future developments. It looks like many hedge funds and institutional investors see value in the stock.

Reddy Ice itself has also posted some nice financial results. The company said its preliminary results show it will slightly exceed the upper range of its previous forecast for 2007 revenues of between $332 million and $338 million. Net income is set to come in slightly below the lower end of its forecast of between $11.3 million and $15.4 million. The results show continued revenue growth, but with some pressure on margins thanks to the difficult economic environment. However, the $25 million breakup fee should provide a one-time boost to shares while management explores other options to unlock value for shareholders.

In the end, Reddy Ice said that it would continue to explore transactions with GSO and review other alternatives available to the company. The stock continues to trade near its 52-week low while being accumulated by activist hedge funds ahead of another review of strategic alternatives - a recipe for success in many books. Combined, these factors make FRZ a stock that is definitely worth watching over the next few months!

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Wendy’s International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) directors may have to fight for their jobs after Nelson Peltz moves forward with his plans to overtake the company. The activist investor demanded that the board expand in size to 15 directors and plans to nominate six of his own if it is adopted. Otherwise, the 9.8 percent owner says that he plans to nominate four to the board at the next annual meeting - giving him a majority vote. Shareholders are hoping that the activist investor will finally take action to unlock value in the company that has seen its shares drop amid internal problems and economic gloom.

Nelson Peltz’s Triac Companies made a bid for Wendy’s last November, but fell short of an expected $37 to $41 bid and was rejected. Since then, Wendy’s has been evaluating its strategic options and plans to finalize its evaluation very soon. However, the board noted that it wouldn’t exercise discretionary authority to vote on any shareholder proposal received by February 11th. The sudden deadline clearly presented a problem for Peltz’s Trian fund as it now had to rush to propose its new plans. The April 24th annual meeting should shore up to be an interesting one with these new nominations and the results of the strategic options evaluation.

Wendy’s shares have been beaten off of their $42 highs to their current levels of around $23 per share. The downward spiral came as a result of failed M&A talk surrounding the stock combined this the recent economic downturn that has many believing that discretionary consumer spending could slow and hurt fast food chains. The nation’s third largest burger chain recently announced strong fourth quarter earnings that quadrupled from a year ago, but it fell just short of Wall Street expectations. Many believe that Wendy’s will continue to show strong results stemming from recent marketing campaigns and an impressive turnaround.

In the end, shareholders are looking forward to the April 24th annual meeting that should either put the company up for sale or show unlock shareholder value through other means. Peltz’s actions only further encourage the company to take some action or risk being taken over and sold off at any price. After spending $6.5 million studying options for the company, hopefully shareholders will be better off. Combined, these factors make WEN a stock worth watching closely over the next few months!

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